


corporeal embodiment

by verity



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 02:03:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patty covered her face with her hands. She needed a few moments to compose herself. "I'm not joining some ghost swingers club."</p><p>"Maybe I could help out," Holtzmann said, voice dipping low.</p><p>"You gonna use that badge printer to make membership cards?" Patty said.</p><p>Holtzmann swung her leg to the floor. "No, instead of the ghost."</p>
            </blockquote>





	corporeal embodiment

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to ashe, engine, & snick for enabling, and magneticwave for the beta. <3

When Patty got to work at the very reasonable hour of 9:02AM, Abby and Erin were arguing over something in the reception area. Well, Abby was arguing, and Erin was sleeping on the chaise. "You can't stop me," Abby said. She was leaning against the desk, her arms crossed."I'm getting us one of those 'THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE' posters and that's final."

Erin mumbled something and put her hand beneath her cheek.

Abby rolled her eyes and caught sight of Patty. "Oh, hi, Patty! Tell her we can put up a poster."

"I don't care as long as you frame it," Patty said. "We're not college students. Or animals."

"Hard to say about Kevin," Abby said.

Patty _mmm-hmm_ ed and leaned over the desk. There were 12 unread voicemails on the phone and a surprisingly realistic sketch of a T-3 class vapor rendered in highlighter and ballpoint pen. Probably not done by Kevin. "If you screen these voicemails before he deletes all of them, I'll do a coffee run."

Abby smiled. "You got yourself a deal." She looked at the wall opposite the desk speculatively. "How about one of those Campbell's soup prints to go with it?"

* * *

As it happened, Patty had soup on her mind, too. She went up to her office on the third floor and distracted herself with some data entry--now that they were on the city payroll, they had to document every goddamn thing down to estimated ectoplasmic volume on site--and then settled down to catch up on the local history blogs that still went out via RSS to her equally historical blog reader. Sometimes, you got wind of a good haunting that way. Or a stunning art deco parquet floor, whichever.

When Patty looked up from her computer, it was well past lunch time and her stomach was grumbling. Distantly, she could hear Abby and Kevin's voices rattling around on the first floor and up through the hole in the floor before they were drowned out by a louder, closer drilling noise. So Holtzmann had her nose to the grindstone as well.

Patty took the stairs because she had a healthy fear of falling to her death in addition to curiosity that was going to lead her there anyway, so why not take the scenic route. There was no drill in sight, just Holtzmann digging through a toolbox next to her on the bench. It looked kind of like the Caboodles case Patty had growing up, except the trays expanded up and out to both sides and were filled with nuts and bolts and no Sally Hansen. "Did you know what else is right on a ley line?" Holtzmann said. "The bodega by my apartment. Explains the TP selection." 

Talking to Holtzmann often felt like Patty was going through one of those cases looking for top coat. "Explains that there is one?"

"Yeah, my question, too." Holtzmann looked up. "You look grim."

Patty shrugged. "We got a call about a Soulcycle haunting. The Dunkin line was out the door this morning. Bad date last night."

"What, you swipe the wrong direction on Tinder?"

"Please," Patty said. "I am a grown woman, I don't fuck with that."

Holtzmann hooked her thumb at the kegerator. "We've got beer again. Thank Kevin."

"If it's Fosters, no thanks," Patty said, but she poured herself a foamy beakerful anyway. She got one for Holtzmann, too.

Having shut her Caboodle, Holtzmann turned her attention to the beer. "Not a date, exactly," she said. "But things got a little weird last night."

"In the _lab_?" Patty said. "There's dangerous shit in here."

Holtzmann sighed contentedly. "I _know_." Then she chugged most of her beaker in one go. 

The beer was a generic American lager that went down as easily as Kevin on the fireman's pole. "I just want a normal date. One normal thing, you know? Wait, you don't."

"Correct," Holtzmann said. 

"For the record, I'm not leaving my body to science," Patty said. "I'd like to be decently buried in a nice grave with a real headstone by my uncle, thank you, and driven in a regular black hearse."

"I'm hurt that you wouldn't trust me with your corpse." Holtzmann threw one of her legs up on the lab table. Somehow, that didn't make her fall off the bench. "Now, tell Aunt Holtzmann all about your troubles."

Patty said, "You are not my auntie."

Holtzmann spread her arms wide.

"I'm also not hugging you," Patty said. "All I'm saying is, I took Abby out for Hale & Hearty, and she told me she was gonna marry her corn chowder."

"She's just waiting for that to be legal," Holtzmann agreed.

There was a time in Patty's life--a very recent time--when she'd found herself having rather different debates about marriage equality. " _Human marriage_ is legal."

Holtzmann tilted her head and gave one of her smirky half-smiles. "Definitely not going to find that on Tinder."

"I didn't find Abby on Tinder!" Patty said. "I found her in the Chinese food restaurant!"

"Oooooh," Holtzmann said, leaning forward. Her leg was still on the table. Did she do yoga or something? "You took Abby on a date."

Patty sighed. Not with contentment. "Well, Abby was on a date _with soup_."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you I fucked a ghost?" Holtzmann said.

"No," Patty said slowly. "No, that would not make me feel better." She looked at the work table and narrowed her eyes. "Did you bang a ghost in here? We _work_ in this building."

"Hey, I called dibs on the second floor," Holtzmann said. "She was in a containment chamber, it was fine."

"Were you _also_ in a containment chamber?"

"Nah," Holtzmann said. "There was some astral projection. A little corporeal embodiment. Some ectoplasm."

"I don't understand how there was corporeal embodiment if the ghost was contained," Patty said.

"Do you want to find out?" Holtzmann said. "I mean, if you're that hard up."

Patty covered her face with her hands. She needed a few moments to compose herself. "I'm not joining some ghost swingers club."

"Maybe I could help out," Holtzmann said, voice dipping low.

"You gonna use that badge printer to make membership cards?" Patty said.

Holtzmann swung her leg to the floor. "No, instead of the ghost."

Two months ago, Patty had possessed a stable job, a Match.com account, and an overpriced Manhattanville studio that didn't have room for more than a mini-fridge. She still had the studio and the mini-fridge. "This is getting a little adventurous for me."

"I would definitely respect your live body as much as your corpse," Holtzmann said.

Patty said, "That is exactly what I mean."

Holtzmann smiled and stayed where she was, sitting on the bench, feet planted firmly on the floor. It took Patty a few seconds to see that Holtzmann was actually nervous. More nervous than Patty had been taking Abby to soup. Abby loved soup. Patty loved--

New York. A good book. Her friends. Things more difficult to quantify. "I trust you, Holtzy," Patty said. "We okay. Don't hurt yourself having a feeling."

"Thank God," Holtzmann said, relaxing.

"And I'm not putting out in the lab," Patty said. "You gotta buy me dinner first."

* * *

"If she gets a soup can and a flying saucer, I want a periodic table," Erin said, thudding her styrofoam cup onto the table. "It's only fair."

Holtzmann leaned back in her chair until it started to tip over and she had to grab the edge of the table for balance. "I want ectoplasm on the ceiling."

"I want y'all to remember this is a fire station," Patty said. "What's next, a big photo of Audrey Hepburn? Do you think this is the prints section of IKEA?"

Abby said, "Jesus, Patty, they don't have _ectoplasm_ at _IKEA_."

"I love brunch," Kevin said in passing.

Patty threw up her hands. "You want this to look like the set of a Nickelodeon show, be my guest."

Holtzmann met Patty's eyes across the table and smiled, slow and sure.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Corporeal Embodiment](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9114862) by [RsCreighton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RsCreighton/pseuds/RsCreighton)
  * [[Podfic] Corporeal Embodiment](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10331174) by [dapatty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapatty/pseuds/dapatty)




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